Steak

Home approach to sous vide: Steak Total time: About 1 hour Servings: 1 steak Note: Here we've used New York strip steak, but all manner of cuts can be prepared in this fashion. Once you've mastered the technique, it's a great resource for entertaining. You can serve perfectly done steaks and still get to spend time with your guests. 1 (16-ounce) New York strip steak, at room temperature Salt Canola oil, as needed for brushing the grill and submerging the steak 1 garlic clove, crushed 2 springs sprigs thyme Olive oil, as needed for submerging the steak 1. Season the steak on both sides with a pinch of salt.

Reporting from Philadelphia -- The movies' Rocky Balboa may be Philadelphia's most celebrated fighter, but this city's greatest rivalry is between two South Philly cheese-steak joints that may rival the Liberty Bell for iconic status: Pat's and Geno's. Lots of places have signature foods: Chicago has deep-dish pizza, New England has clam chowder, Buffalo, N.Y., has hot wings, Maryland has crab cakes and New Orleans has gumbo. But in Philadelphia, the cheese steak stands as equal parts civic symbol, tourist attraction and cultural obsession.

2009 Domaine Chignard Fleurie 'Les Moriers' If the only Beaujolais you've ever encountered is Beaujolais Nouveau and you've never tasted a Beaujolais cru, then this is the wine to make you fall head over heels for the region. Unfined and unfiltered, Domaine Chignard's Fleurie "Les Moriers" from the great 2009 vintage carries the scent of wild sweet strawberries. It's so lush and vivid, tasting of blueberries, black cherries and plums. The vines average 60 years old, so this is some deep fruit underpinned with soft tannins.

THE BEST WAY TO INDIANAPOLIS From LAX, nonstop service is offered on Delta, direct service (stop, no change of planes) on Southwest and US Airways, and connecting service (change of planes) on Southwest, Delta, United, American, Frontier and Continental. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $478. WHERE TO STAY Columbia Club, 121 Monument Circle; (317) 767-1361, http://www.columbia-club.org . Elegant private club with traditional and remodeled rooms available to public.

Skirt steak carpaccio with raw asparagus and fava salad Total time: 40 minutes Servings: 4 Note: Adapted from Travis Lett of Gjelina. Buy the skirt steak from a quality purveyor, as this steak will be served still raw in the center. Lett suggests Niman Ranch skirt steak and asparagus from Life's a Choke Farms. Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print.

The following is a blog documenting two Los Angeles Times editors' attempts to lose weight. It all began on Jan. 10 . Eat anything you want and lose weight? Although it sounds like something you might hear on a cheesy infomercial at 3 a.m., it is possible. But, like anything, it's all about the moderation. My friend John e-mailed me last week attesting to his weight loss of 24 lbs. so far this year with a weekly pig-fest included. He writes: "The key to my success doesn't lie in the austere diet or draconian exercise regimen.

After dinner, we slip out of the old post office ? with its wall of cubbyholes stuffed with faded letters ? into the Cornell night. The velvety black sky is spangled with the stars you never see in the city. The night smells of wood fire, pine and horses. It's as if we've slipped through time at the Old Place roadhouse in the folds of the Santa Monica Mountains between Agoura Hills and Malibu. The food is hearty and good ? not always perfect, but satisfying if you stick to the basics.

Dr. Robert Atkins shook up the nutrition establishment in 1972 when he published "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution. " In that book and others that followed, he asserted that dieters could lose weight eating bacon, eggs, steak and rich sauces. His low-carb diet has remained controversial even as its popularity has waxed and waned through the years. Atkins died in 2003, and three other doctors have taken up his cause with an updated Atkins diet book, published last March. More than 300,000 copies of their book, "The New Atkins for a New You," are in print, according to publisher Fireside.

The following is a blog documenting two Los Angeles Times editors' attempts to lose weight. It all began on Jan. 10 . Yeah, I cratered. To skeptics who didn’t think I could survive the D.C. trip without falling off the diet bandwagon, they were right. “I was who you thought I was!” you could say (paraphrasing Dennis Green ). I was doing fine on Monday. I made the trip out in a situation that might cause most people to crater immediately.

Coming soon to a grocery store near you: nutrition labels, like the ones seen on soda pop and potato chips, slapped on packages of raw ground meat and chicken breasts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that a new federal rule will require 40 of the most commonly purchased cuts of poultry, pork, beef and lamb to carry labels that disclose a variety of information to consumers. Slated to go into effect Jan. 1, 2012, the rule will require meat producers to disclose the total number of calories, the number of calories that come from fat, and the total grams of fat and saturated fat. The labels also must include details about protein, cholesterol, sodium and vitamins in the product, according to federal officials.